it. what are the chances i will win the powerball? if i can convince myself to win, that will make me smile until the numbers come out. and then you will get taxed to kingdom come. it will not even help the deficit. warren buffett can help them out. lori rothman and melissa francis with more coming up. dagen: the market is up, that is good. good afternoon read >> pushing for middle-class tax cuts without any spending concessio concessions, president obama to meet with business leaders on the fiscal cliff after speaking just last hour. we'll ask lou dobbs that he thinks ceos will help to make deals happen.

>> now washington is looking at the one sacred mortgage deduction, maybe get rid of it to help heal the budget crisis. >> charlie gasparino on the future of the firm. time for stocks as we do every 15 minutes, before the new york stock exchange, nicole petallides on the floor. a deal is possible by christmas. >> hoping to get some positive comments from john boehner. he is optimistic. a nice little boost. from negative to positive to the session highs, no 50 points away from dow 13,000 once again. the dow once again up 73 points. you have a lot of winners. the banking index is still under some pressure, but retailers are

really stealing the show. many are doing well for a variety of reasons. take a look at costco. the money they're paying out to shareholders ahead of the fiscal cliff wall to get the dividend ahead of the higher tax rate, so costco joins many come over 100 companies that have done much of the same. paying out dividends so you can pay less taxes. melissa: thank you so much. lori: so thoughtful of the company. president obama invited middle-class americans to the white house to showcase those would be most affected a certain tax cuts are not extended. peter barnes live at the white house. >> 85 middle-class taxpayers joining the president at this event part of a pr push to drive them to extend tax cuts for middle-class taxpayers let them

expire for wealthier taxpayers. take a listen. >> optimistically i don't think we will get it done tomorrow. but if everybody here goes out of their way to make their voices heard and spread the word to your friends and families and coworkers and neighbors, i am thoughtfudoubtful that we will t done. >> the president meeting with 14 ceos, second such meeting in the last two weeks including the ceos of yahoo, merck, coca-cola and at&t. and lloyd glenn fine, the ceo of goldman sachs said i believe tax increases are appropriate but only if they're joined by serious cuts and discretionary spending and entitlements. lori: what a coup incideets. melissa: better cut spending. thank you.

ceos taking the white house by storm. struggling to get the fiscal cliff deal done. joining us, senior vice president of washington research, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. melissa: what do you read of the bits coming out, how do you think it is going the closer we are to reaching a deal. >> we are still weeks away from a deal. we will get something before christmas, but look at the thursday, friday, saturday before christmas. you look at the public statement, digested a little bit and kind of figure out what is going on behind the scenes. there have been talks going on behind the scenes, just don't thinthink they have all been as productive as we would like them to be yet. the real negotiating just beginning to pick up now. melissa: it seems like they're looking under every rock for more revenue. we were hearing about federal

gas tax, talking but obviously raising taxes on anyone who makes more than $250,000 but you don't hear anything serious about cutting spending or entitlement or anything. >> i think the white house thinks we are in a better place than they were a year and a half ago so they're staying away from the spending cuts for now. i think if there is no real spending cuts, they will go off the fiscal cliff, don't think republican!!therepublicans willl without spending. melissa: maybe we will raise taxes now on folks and make a promise down the road to get back together in six months or so or talk about spending cuts somewhere down the road. that would be frustrating to a lot of republicans, do you think they would take that deal? speak i understand the chances of winning the lottery are better than getting the cuts in the future. if they don't get an agreement

right now that is firm and real. lori: had to get something specific, not just cut and number, and it turns out like this come in th and the situatih his exploding deadline and may be a number but no specifics in my mind it ends up not happening. >> they can take a framework, but the left tax increases there will be. there will be a tipping point somewhere to get a deal. one thing nobody mentions, the president glossed over this morning. taxes are going up no matter what thanks to obamacare there are surcharges that are not on the table. tax rates are going up regardless of what happens in this debate over the next couple of weeks. melissa: thank you so much for coming on. lori: so it is now being called one of the most unfair taxes and health reform, and it has the medical community in an uproar

demanding repeal. elizabeth macdonald is here with much more. we're talking about the medical device makers, talking about the taxes for some time now. >> hb 800 companies and groups sent a letter to senators harry reid, mitch mcconnell and others to say that they want repeal of the medical device tax as part of the fiscal cliff deal, this is a tax not on profits, on sales, on revenue. even if you post losses you still have to pay the tax. here's what the letter writers are warning about. if it passes, it will adversely impact patient care can increase cost of health care and adversely impact jobs. it's a 43,000 jobs could be lumped medical device makers. pacemakers, stopping brain

aneurysms including prosthetics for soldiers returning from overseas and the issue is why you're hitting us with an excise tax on sales? they did a study which found when you do the math it is actually 80% in federal, state and local including the excise tax. lori: why would they go throughr the medical device makers? the tanning bed tax, the kind of understand. >> here is the rationale. the house want repeal it, but has stalled in the senate. the logic is they have to have health insurance, required to have health insurance, the logic is medical device makers will make a lot of money in sales. they say this $30 billion you

will raise on the excise tax, we spend $10 billion on r&d. thewe will send all sourcing ofd to other countries essentially. they operate on the thin profit margins already. it could bankrupt a lot of companies, large or small companies and the president says he will veto any attempt to repeal it. lori: that is fascinating. thank you so much. melissa: facebook democracy or dictatorship? asking users to vote against their right to vote, all of that coming up. melissa: later jeff flock joining us. reviewing the new beetle. talk about cars.

silver and copper also trending lower. we are back after this. look, if you havcopd like me,

you know it t can be hard to breathe, and how that feels. copd includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. spiriva helps contro my cd symptoms

by keeping my airways open for 24 hours. plus, it reduces copd flare-ups. spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled copd maintenance eatment that does both. spiriva handihaler tiotropium bromide inhalationowder does not replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms. tell your doctor if you have kidney problems, glaucoma, trouble urinating, or these may worsen wh spiriva. discuss all mecines you take, even e drops. stop taking spiriva and seek immediate medical help if yr breathing sudden worns, your throat or tongue swells, you get hives, sion changes or eye pain, or problems passing urine. other side effects include dry mouth and constipation. nothing n reverse copd spiriva helpme breathe better. (blowing sou) ask your doctor about spiriva.

melissa: it is time to make some money with charles payne this hour. following up on a stock where losing is winning. what do you have for us? charles: we talked about weight watchers. there is a scuttlebutt out that

she is pregnant. lori: didn't she just have a kid? charles: she is pregnant, the stock is down on the news. hard to lose weight in her new condition, so one thing to talk about, so hold onto this stock, interesting piece last month talking about 25,000 competitors and so fragmented, weight watchers has 3% of the market, so still think there is a lot of room for growth. i think about it in the short term, but it is interesting when jessica simpson gets pregnant, the stock goes down. melissa: nobody knows what the real number is. it went back and forth what it really was, and then if you're a woman who watches the tabloids,

already she wasn't necessarily a good spokesperson for them. charles: like every time i see an article on oprah, cannot get it straight. i will tell you the red flag i did see, it is not a big deal, but they sold almost 10 million shares. a big red flag. i am using 50 as a mental site before i go, what is her daughter's name? you know all these liberties, not just one name. melissa: thank you so much. lori: let's check the market.

nicole on th the new york stock exchange. bad news for bp today. nicole: i would not have gotten any part of that at all. bp has had headline after headline. today's headline is focused on what the environmental protection agency is reporting bp is being temporarily suspended from new contracts with the u.s. government come existing contracts state in in , however new government contracts are going to be put off at least for now. remember two weeks ago they played ill be some charges involved in the death of 11 workers in the explosion. questions about their integrity and what they actually revealed after the explosion. and so now, they must meet federal business standards to be eligible for the new contract. in the meantime the stock is down one third of 1%.

back to you. lori: thank you, nicole. melissa: hedge fund giant trying to reassure investors after insider trading charges. lori: is a busy day for charlie he joins us next. look at the dollar holidays trading against the foreign currency. back after this.

with the fidelity stock screener, you can try stragies from independent experts and see wh criteria they use. such as a 5% yld on dividend-paying stocks. then you can customize the strategies and narrow down to exactlythose. i'm mark allen of fidelity investments. the expert strategies feature is one more innovative reason serious investors are oosing fidelity. now get 200 free trades when you open an account.

>> 21 minutes past the hour, this is your fox news minute. more than 100,000 people flooded the streets in downtown cairo for a new round of violent demonstrations. protesting egyptian president mohamed morsi's power grab. police firing tear grass at demonstrators.

this is one of the highest courts refuses to work in protest with mohamed morsi's degree. president obama will hhve a sitdown with crummy tomorrow. their first sit down since the election november 6. tonight's record-breaking powerball jackpot is now up to $550 million. people lining up across the country for their chance to hit it big. if you think you're going to become an instant millionaire, here's a sobering stat. the odds are one in 175 million. those are your headlines. back to you. lori: thank you. melissa: are you sharing your lottery winnings with me? lori: yesterray i was on the fence, but i've decided i should be generous. melissa: in the summer knight capital was fighting for it survival after aaron's trading

wiped out money from the balance sheet. but they find themselves in the middle of a bidding war as high frequency trading outfit tries to outbid their arrival. who has the advantage? which has the advantage. >> we report, you decide. i will lay ouu a couple of things. convincing the board to accept an all cash. from $3 plus. we don't know what the plus is, that could be a big thing. they're looking to do this by telling the board members, who actually like the ceo, tom joyce. he corralled the new investors when they had the errant trade. they say listen, we will give you $3 plus, we will appoint tom

joyce the ceo of the new combination company. the former nymex chairman will be the chairman. that is what it would be like. tom joyce being the main operating guy running the show. at least that is what they will tell the board members and they will have this meeting later on today. the official filings are coming out tomorrow. former new york stock exchange chief from what i understand is an unofficial advice or. why is that? they're very close. running the new york stock exchange, they have been friends for a long time. the other part is he is very friendly with tom joyce. he ran the capital markets division for merrill lynch, one of the top guys. coming very close with dick grasso when he was the chairman commission. from what i understand, he is playing an important behind the

scenes here. i think the getco did was an unfriendly bid because they just made the filing. they said here's what we want. it was a hostile takeover, said tom joyce is gone, that is essentially what they said. he would be nonexecutive chairman, which means you have no role in the company, you generally leave. that is kind of an interesting thing. we should point out they have a good bid. it will be hard to turn down but we should point out getco had really good built-in advantages. it owns a piece of knight capital. its advisor, jeffries, owns a piece of it. if you put them together come you're talking about controlling 38% of the ownership of knight

capital. that will be very formidable. that said, there is 62 left, they may want to go for the old cash bid. a private company, people are doubtful about its earnings. they haven't disclosed their earnings yet because if you do a cash and stock bid, part of it involves the earnings, how do you value it? getco valuing it at $3.50. when they see how much they make. they may come out and say listen, we have synergies. so anyway, that is where we are right now with this. the bid, not a lot of disclosure. we should point out tom joyce is pushing for $4. melissa: everything is okay? >> is in a world of hurt.

the very fact the sec has filed for recommended the staff has filed civil charges against the firm, maybe enough to shut down as a registered broker deal which i think they will probably try. that will be it for them. half of his money is in the firm, he can still be a private trader. i will tell you, the news came out today, very bad, not quite an indictment. they can shut you down, that is a big problem. lori: one of the big perks of the homeowner is the tax break on your mortgage interest. that may be coming to an end if you can believe it and you can blame the fiscal cliff. melissa: the sacred deduction could be on the chopping block, and what it means for you in a recovering housing market is coming up next.

melissa: time for stocks now as we do every 15 minutes. let's head to the floor of the new york stock exchange. nicole petallides is standing by where green mountain is brewing up something hot today. >> that's right. let's take a close look at green mountain coffee roasters doing very well. coming out with the quarterly report beating on top and bottom line. you know it for the keurig, the single k-cups they have been known for. the stock today is soaring

up 25%. they came out with their quarterly report. you saw that their profit rose 22% despite the fact that their patents for the pods, the single pods, actually expired in september. they gave an outlook for the current quarter and the holiday season that is better than the analyst expectations. so having a good quarter and a good outlook that is beyond wall street expectations gave them an up arrow. that is why you see them up $7.30. as i was looking over the numbers for green mountain coffee roasters, so many people are short this stock, it is a popular one to short. look at a 10-year chart. date all the way back to 2003, this stock has been up every single year except for the exception of 2008 with it lost 4.9%. there are some stellar years here. in '09, 1215%. it has had quite a run own the way up. back to you. melissa: thanks so much, nicole. lori: once the untouchable tax break mortgage interest deduction may be on the

chopping block if the economy falls off the fiscal cliff. what does it mean for you and your nation's nascent housing recovery? rodney anderson is the director of supreme lending. welcome, sir. >> good afternoon, lori, rodney, the mortgage interest deduction, on? mous with terms like sacred cow and untouchable but that is changing. >> absolutely. we know several years ago they would have to address the mortgage interest deduction. what we need to remember here is the housing market is already in a troubled stage. ben bernanke last week saying mortgage lending guidelines are overly tight. so we're in an area right now that we know we need to get rid of the deduction but how do we do it? we have to do it structured. lori: let me come in here with this point. are you saying if we get rid of this deduction it could thwart, to your point a very vulnerable recovery?

today we got the mortgage apps down 23 years from the prior weeks. new home sales were down when they were expected to rise? >> yeah, it could absolutely hurt the, short term it could hurt it. long term i don't believe it will hurt it. the reason years ago we were able to write off credit card interest. we were able to write car loan interest. years after that we're still charging credit cards. we're still buying cars. same thing will happen in housing. the people are asking how do we do it? structure, get rid, every, everyone year get rid of 10% of the mortgage interest deduction but not just for the wealthy. for every single homeowner in america. therefore everybody feels this pain. lori: so a gradual reduction of the benefit? what about the length of loans? do you think that people should be more encouraged to get -- >> short-term mortgages. 30% of americans right now refinancing are taking a 15

year or 20-year loan. this serves as getting rid of the mortgage interest deduction for a lot of these people. the reason being is the more you pay down your principle, the less interests you pay, the less you write off. people don't like to be told what they have to do. so going to shorter-term mortgages is definitely a solution that will speed this process up. that's why it is really important that we keep mortgage rates low for the next two or three years but more importantly on the harp loans. home affordability refinance, program, lori, every loan that is a harp loan should be required to be shortened the term to 15 or to years. lori: i'm concerned about the politics. what is the likelihood that the wealthy americans, republicans representing them, okay, would say it is easier to digest this, you know, higher tax rate or whatever, i've got it backwards. i apologize. easier to accept this deduction loss versus accept a higher tax rate?

>> well, i think the republicans need to watch out on this deal because for example, in the dallas-ft. worth area where i'm from, some of the key republicans, they are in areas that are higher income areas. you cut it down for everybody, i'll tell you what, when the husbands and wives go to the voting polls, they're going to nix them. there may be one of the biggest turnovers we've seen the republican party ever have in two years if they don't lay off this mortgage interest deduction. lori: we shall see. rodney anderson, thank you. >> thank you. melissa: business leaders are demanding action on the fiscal cliff but will they get it? president obama hears from ceos this afternoon. first we get lou dobbs take on all that. lori: we'll see how confident folks are. thereby buying treasurys a little bit today. long bond, 30-year treasury is yielding 2.77%.

we're back after this. [ male announcer ] this is steve. he loves risk. but whether he's climbing everest, scuba divi the great barrier reefith sharks, or jumping into the marke he goes witpeople he trusts which is why he tde with a company that doesn't nickel and dime him with hidden fees. socan worry about other things, like what the market is doing andeing ready, no matter what happens, which isn't rocket scice. it's just common sense, from td ameritrade.

>> i'm adam shapiro with the dow reversed its triple digit fall and went positive following optimistic comments from both president obama and house speaker john boehner. on the fiscal cliff negotiations. allstate says superstorm sandy will cost it more than one billion dollars. the insurance company says 2/3 of the losses are in new york state, with the rest in new jersey and other states. sandy is expected to be the second most expensive disaster in u.s. history behind hurricane katrina. allstate is the largest publicly-traded home and auto insurer in the united states. your holiday travel plans will cost you more this year. travel sites orbitz and kayak predict travelers traveling to top destinations will pay 8% more than they did last year. that is the latest from the fox business network, giving you the power to prosper.

lori: both political sides publicly acknowledging that fiscal cliff talks are making very little progress. i'm shocked. melissa: it is shocking. lori: now president obama is meeting with chief executives for the second time in two weeks. can the business community muster pressure to bring parties closer to a deal. lou dobbs is here with his take. you must be surprised as well, sir? >> i am a little surprised. both sides said they will two out and campaign for their side. republicans say let's be reasonable. the president saying let's raise taxes on those wealthy son of a guns. i don't see what the end result here is. we had an collection. he is president. he didn't win by much. eight million viewer votes in fact than he had in 2008.

i don't think he wants to go around screaming mandate. republicans control governorships, control state legislatures, what's the deal? and boehner today did only thing responsible on the part of any leader. speaker boehner came out and said, that he is optimistic, that they can get a deal done here. meanwhile that reversed a market on its way, i think to a significant, and by significant, i mean, perhaps around a 300 point loss on the day on the dow. this is, somebody better grow up in that white house and they better do it pretty soon. lori: do you think the ceo's can be influential a second time around? what do you think they will say? what's the message? >> i think, don't you, he made it pretty clear what he thinks of business and business leaders. so what have they got to say? there is a very simple issue here. lori: what is in it for them to show up? melissa: i talked to a small business owner yesterday on morn any went to the white house.

he went to argue for incentives he was gettinn for small business. we had a productive conversation. it was great vibe in the room. >> that's wonderful. melissa: i talked about, you know, how much it helped us to get the incentive to hire people from this program we had and paid to hire them and he heard us and understood that. i thought, that is great, everybody is focused on their thing they will keep. they will not give away their money. >> yeah. melissa: somehow we'll come to conclusion of some type if everybody holds on? >> we have a little more than a month to go before we find out what a cliff looks like in person, without any sign, albeit, comforting, what speaker boehner said today. this is a president who is out basically saying, i mean he is behaving, i think, well, i know of no other word. it is very immature. he doesn't seem as if he is taking it seriously. he short tells when he discusses the cliff.

press secretary jay carney said there would be no fun at all if we revealed what we were going to do. these are the words of people who really just don't quite understand --. lori: mocking and disrespectful to everyday people? >> it is exactly that. you're exactly right. it is mocking. it is disrespectful and it's revealing. the real need for real leadership. again i want to applaud speaker boehner for standing up today. this is an opportunity for real leadership. so far he is the only one who stood up that is simply to deal with the issue of the anxiety and fear of the markets bought it is palpable and it is consequential if indeed these leaders don't come together. there is nothing, there is nothing new out there. they know the issues. they know the facts and they know what must be done. and they understand the consequences. lori: lou dobbs, thank you as always. >> thank you. lori: we'll see you back here tomorrow same time. same bat channel.

americans for tax reform president, grow very norquist, he is hot topic. why are top republicans abandoning his tax pledge. >> cowardice, some sort of courage of pledge they made of their own volition. lori: he is losing clout though? >> no, you loss some senators losing their self-respect. lori: i look forward to the chat. >> you got it. melissa: it is quarter to 2:00. as we do every 15 minutes let's check on the markets. nicole petallides on the floor floor of the new york stock exchange where teen retailers are on fire. >> teen retailers are doing very well but retail overwell as far as up arrows. we talked about the costco leading the s&p 500. look closely at some of the names including american eagle, aeropostale coming out with numbers, look at aeropostale, up 5.6%. american eagle outfitters is

doing so well up 7% as they came out with the higher than expected sales. they saw their margins stronger than expected as well. their sales volumes on black friday and weekend period did well. positive comps for that according to the chief executive officer. i want to look at express, young adult clothing. weaker sales and margins. premarket we've seen it with up arrow. look where it is now. it said that the black friday sales that they saw topped the analyst estimates. so here it is, 11 of a% to the upside. so we weren't kidding when we were saying some of these retailers are really stealing the show. the dow is up 81 points. if you own some of these and you're long you're pretty happy. back to you. melissa: good day for them. nicole, thanks so much. lori: too old to shop there. melissa: no, come on! you're not too old for anything, lori. no way. lori: is it 1960s all over

again? knot ed sullivan introducing a legendary new band from liverpool. it is volkswagon revealing the new and improved beetle. melissa: jeff flock will be next. what's next? he's going to apply testosterone to his uerarm. axiron, the only underarm treatment for low t, can restore testosterone levels back to normal in most men. axiron is not for use in women. axiron can transfer to others throu direct contact. women, especially those who are or who may become pregnant, d children should avoid contact where iron is applied as unexpected signs of puberty in children or changes inody hair or increasedacne.

reporthe signs and symptoms to your doctor if theyccur. tell your doct about all medical conditions and medications. do not use if you have prostate or breast cancer. serious side effects could include increaserisk of prostate cancer; worsening prostate symptoms; decreased sperm count; ankle, feet, or body swelling; enlarged or painful breasts; and blood clotin the leg common side effects clude skin redness or irration where applied, increased red blood ll count, headhe, diarrhea, vomiting, anincrease in ps see your doctor, and for a 30-day free trial, go to axiron.com.

lori: facebook users may lose their right to fight the social network's policy proposals. thousands spoke out today but facebook may still have the last word. shibani joshi has our first word.

shibani? >> lori, let me help you make sense of this. the digital vote about the concept and ability to even digitally vote in the first place. stay with me on this one. basically what's happened, tens of thousands of facebook users have gathered to the web to weigh in on the issue whether or not they can vote on future changes to the site on facebook. now, there's one specifically policy they are voting on which is the abolition of a policy that allowed facebook users to veto site and privacy changes they didn't like. we know that privacy and site issues are a hot button issue for users and in this instance it is allowing them to weigh in whether facebook can make changes or not. now it is a democratic process that was installed way back in 2009. it allows us usesers to disapprove site changes. it could be marketing. it could be privacy. it could even be site design changes. 7,000 users are needed to comment to take the issue to

a vote. then on top of 30% of users must vote no to veto this issue. this is a pretty hard, high bar to climb over. 30% of a billion users means, 300 million people must vote no for something to become vetoed. it is not likely this issue will get the likely needed votes. there is only two other times these policies have been brought to users attention. one was back in 2009. one was in june of this year. lori, the last time users voted on this, only 1% of users, something like 300,000 users, voted well short of the 300 million users that are needed. so so long, pretty much, you can bet this is the last of users being able to chime in on changes on facebook. lori: listen as long as they reassure me of privacy that's all folks care about. thank you. >> thanks. melissa: nearly 50 new

vehicle debuts are set for the l.a. auto show the world he is from chrysler, ford, gm, wv, bmw, fiat and. jeff flock joins us from the l.a. auto show. jeff. >> it was just unveiled. perhaps the most celebrated unveiling of the show. this is what the beetle looks like, the new beetle convertable. it has the new, low-slung look the coup coupe popular. first on fox, john browning, president and ceo of volkswagen of the americas. >> this is bigger than the vehicle by itself. the beetle is the heartbeat of the volkswagen business in the u.s. everybody has their beetle story. >> you may not sell more of them from other cars but it is a flagship for you?. >> it really sets the tone for momentum of the business and vibrancy of the organization.

to see the, just the response here has been wonderful. >> volkswagen is out for world domination. i'm saying that. you don't have to but obviously the u.s. is a huge part of that. you may well become the best-selling car company in the world very soon. it is because, not because of europe where you're based but because of the u.s. in part. >> what we have seen is a very solid investment program over an extended period of time. now we've seen three years of double-digit growth culminating a doubling of the size of our business over three years. >> i want to ask you about that. word came out last week that volkswagen will invest 50 billion euro in the business over the course of next three years. >> yep. >> that seems like a company based in europe making that kind of investment almost sound crazy. >> this business is about products and about investing. when we brought the passat to the u.s. market last year we taken that decision to invest in the u.s. in 2008, just as the economy went into meltdown. we stayed with that plan. so if you invest with the

right products you see the sort of growth that we're seeing now. >> scared of the fiscal cliff in the u.s.? >> i think that is something we have to work our way through but our expectation the recovery will continue into next year and consumer confidence won't be too impacted by it. >> you're betting on the congress and the president? >> we're looking forward to a very successful 2013 just like this year. >> well-put, jonathan browning, always a great pleasure to talk with you, to see, first on fox, just unveiled vw convert -- beetle. i will call it that. see if it sticks. melissa: jeff flock, thanks so much. lori: here's a question. you tired of hearing us talk about the fiscal cliff? move to mars. yes, you can. forget calgon, take me away, go to mars. spacex and paypal founder elon musk reveals plan to colonize the planet in 20 years. send a small group of 10 people to set up a colony and see it grow to around

0,000 people. modern day thanksgiving for you. tickets are one way and set you back around 500 grand. to foot the project's estimated $30 billion price tag. spacex made history by becoming the first private u.s. company to deliver cargo to the international space station. are you on board? you're determined to stay and fight the fiscal cliff even if it comes to hand-to-hand combat. melissa: maybe. or this guy in china who wouldn't move his house, you saw that picture? so he just stayed right in the middle of the road and road comes up to one side and goes out tte other. that is me. i'm going to stand there. lori: makes it difficult to walk your dog. that is funny. what is coming up tonight on monn any. melissa: tonight on "money", what is the trick to win the massive powerball? we'll ask seven-time lottery winner richard lustig done the impossible so many times. he haves very specific tips. he says there is whole trick

to it. i was looking at couple of them. he doesn't really have math on his side for some of them. he keeps pointing out he won seven times. lori: look forward to hear about that. melissa: that will be interesting, 5:00 p.m. eastern here on fox business. if you want to win the lottery, if you don't, don't watch my show. but if you want to win the lottery and tune in at 5:00 p.m.. lori: you're a winner regardless if you're watching "money.". incoming ceo says yes of coldwell banker says yes. he joins tracy and ash on fox business.

tracy: i'm tracy byrnes. >> i'm ashley webster. new urgency on the fiscal cliff. both the president and republicans say they're confident a deal can be reached and both admit not doing so would be disasterous. tracy: yeah. stocks hit session highs after the president spoke. we don't see that very often.

market guru jim bianco is here. he says why he thinks companies moving up dividends to avoid the fiscal cliff actually could backfire on them. ashley: maybe they should hang onto the cash. new home seals raising doubts about the strength of housing recovery. cold well bank are incoming ceo, budge huskey will tell us really what is going on with housing. tracy: and at this time we'll go down to breaking news from the federal reserve. peter barnes has the details. hey, peter. >> hey, tracy. that's right. the latest beige book from the fed and says, quote, economic activity expanded at a measured pace in recent weeks and, there have been modest improvements in hiring. this is the beige book that the fomc members will use at debate and possibly change policy although it is expected that it is steady as she goes with quantitative easing. continuing the beige book also says consumer spending

grew at a moderate pace in most districts while manufacturing weakened in seven of the 12 fed bank districts according to the beige book. there were outright, slowing or outright contraction in manufacturing. and then of course it is the holiday season coming up here. it says looking to the holiday sales season the districts whose contacts gave an outlook noted mostly upbeat expectations. the report also mentions hurricane sandy hitting the east coast, particularly new york and slowing economic activity there, and it said that contacts in a number of districts were concerned about uncertainty and the fiscal cliff here in washington. tracy and ashley. tracy: peter barnes, thank you very much. ashley: expanded at measured pace. so different language on that. tracy: although, manufacturing slowing or contracting. that is not very good, no. peter, thank you. we have a lot going on down there in d.c. we'll go back to peter in a bit for the

latest on the fiscal cliff. but first it is top of the hour. let's get a check on the markets. nicole petallides on the floor of the exchange. nicole, markets didn't move much on that reaction, that's for sure. >> i can't contain myself that is fed speak at its best. talking about the economy. measured pays for expansion and consumer spending moderate. you get manufacturing on the other hand which is not doing as well. but when we talk to people for the holidays it is looking better. yeah, good, no, not good. yeah, good. not good. that is what we talk about so many times with john corpino at meridian equity partners. that is what makes it tough with traders. that's why we've been in the trading range that we've been in. the dow jones industrial average really didn't move much but how could they with the back and forth chatter on the beige book. 75 points up to theside. what moved the market when

you talk about john boehner being optimistic talking about fiscal cliff issues and gave us a nice boost and president obama came out and echoed that. yesterday we ha harry reid gave a negative outlook and that's why we sold off yesterday. look at some ddw winners because now there is a lot of dow winners. american press, hewlett-packard, pfizer, chevron. those are some of the best performers on the dow jones industrials gaining more than 1% each. hewlett-packard is up 3%. only a couple of loser, at&t and boeing. back to you. ashley: nicole, thank you very much. bring attention to the banner on bottom of the screen. treasury secretary tim meet with congressional leaders tomorrow as the evident goes on to get some compromise to avoid this fiscal cliff. more now as we just said, he will be meeting with those congressional leaders tomorrow on capitol hill. we'll wait to see what comes of that. hopefully some more, at least promising words. everyone is confident of course that a deal can be

reached before christmas. at least that is the belief of some. peter barnes at the white house where the president will again meet with business leaders this afternoon, probably getting an earful from them, peter. >> that's right, ashley but earlier today the president had a pr event, he had a major pr, public relations push hhre to try to get the republicans to at least, for now, extend the middle class tax cuts, that portion of the bush tax cuts that would help the middle class. surrounded himself at that event with 85 middle class taxpayers, continue to put pressure on republicans to extend the bush tax cuts for them but let them expire for the wealthier taxpayers. take a listen. >> if we can get a few house republicans to agree as well, i'll sign this bill as soon as congress sends it my way. i got to repeat. i've got a pen. i'm ready to sign it. >> as you mentioned, ashley, the president meeting this

afternoon once again with corporate leaders. this is the second such meeting in two weeks. he is meeting with 14 of them today, including the ceo of yahoo!, merck, coca-cola, at&t, as well as lloyd blankfein, the ceo of goldman sachs will be here. i don't think he has been at the white house in quite a while. ashley and tracy. ashley: yeah. i'm sure he will have plenty to say to the president. peter barnes in d.c., thank you very much. stocks waivered early but have been solidly higher sid the president said, yes he hopes to have a deal in place before christmas. wishful thinking? well, we'll see. for more on the market and its reaction, let's bring in jim bianco, president of bianco research. jim, thanks for joining us. let's start with the big picture here. the market clearly at the mercy of the fiscal cliff and all the comments coming out on it. are you confident a deal can be done for christmas and how do you see this playing out? >> no, i'm not confident a deal can be done during christmas. the fiscal cliff is the deal.

it was the deal to stop the debt ceiling negotiations from last year that created the super-committee which didn't wind up doing anything. i'm not going through all of that terrible history again and both sides are very dug in and i don't think there is going to be a deal. that's where, i hope i'm wrong. i hope they have a deal. i also don't think the markets have been really focusing on this at all until the election. so up until three weeks ago the markets were not discounting anything in terms of the fiscal cliff. and that's why every time john boehner says something or the president says something or harry reid says something we get violent movements out of the markets. only in the last couple weeks are they finally starting to pay attention to this. tracy: okay, we don't get a deal, let's play this out. do they punt to next year and we see a bunch of retroactive taxes put in place? will we see entitlement spending cuts? how do you see this in the end? >> there are two con sit when sis out there to keep

in mind. the president won the election and he feels he has a mandate and that's correct. there is also the financial markets and they matter too. if we go into no deal in january and cbo estimates are right, i have no reason to doubt that, the economy takes a hit, financial markets take a hit and there is enormous pressure on everybody in washington to stop the bleeding. the markets are going down, economy is going down. of therefore i think they will start to have pressure on them. the president, as he sounded today, doesn't sound like he wants to really negotiate. he won. he wants the taxes on everybody over 250 to go up, the rate to go up. he has a pen ready to sign it. unless the markets put pressure on him he will not come off of that. that's why i think we'll have to watch for the markets to tell us what happens next. ashley: jim, we've seen a rush to issue special dividends from a number of companies trying to beat the higher tax rates or threat of higher tax rates. but you say all of this comes with a risk. what is that? >> yeah.

it is perfectly reasonable for all these companies to do this. all we know, is being at thats are going to be at a certain level for five more weeks. we don't know what will happen after that. most likely they go up. the money they're issuing in special dividends is worth more to give it to shareholders than after january 1st. the risk is, if after january 1st and economy starts to teeter a little bit, they will wish they had that extra money to cushion themselves throughout the future. but you can't hold onto it, meaning it will be worth less just because something might happen. it's a rational decision based on what we know now that they should be issuing special dividends. congress but the them in this position you by not letting them know what the tax rate will be in five weeks. they're reacting rationally to it. unfortunately it could be negative if the economy suffers and they don't have the cash cushions going into 2013. tracy: you could argue the market is really saying there will not be a deal, right? if all the companies are coming out issuing these

special dividends, panicking so to speak because they don't think anything will get done, they think tax rates are going up, they're already presuming that this thing is getting pushed off into 2013? >> yeah. especially when you consider that most dividend owners or most people that receive dividends make more than 250,000. tracy: right. >> or even much more than that. they will have their taxes go up. tracy: yeah. >> i think the market is assuming tax rates are going to go up and corporations are responding in kind to that right now. they're not assuming that there will be a deal to prevent no taxes from going up. ashley: you're right. i believe. jim bianco, jim, thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you. ashley: jim points out both sides seem very dug in on these issues. compromise is the key but not a word you hear very often on capitol hill. tracy: the market is up fromming taxes are going up, most of us are. maybe d.c. should come to the table on that? most of us are kind of, you know, we're settled into it. ashley: resigned to it

maybe? tracy: unfortunately. what are you going to do? we've got much more coming up on the busy noon day. green mountain shares surging not because i drink a lot of it. ashley: that's true. tracy: charles payne has been all over the stock and he is next. ashley: plus a fox business exclusive with the ceo of luxury electric carmaker fist car. jeff flock live from the l.a. auto show. that is coming up. first as we do every day, oil is doing. oil down 1% off nearly a buck at 86.24 a barrel. we'll be right back

tracy: it is that time of day to make some money with charles payne. he has a follow-up today to my morning cup of joe into huge profits. ashley: nice. tracy: all because of me. >> i got to tell you, feels good. i came on yesterday with my mea culpa on zales which got hammered. when i saw green mountain after the close up huge, feels good for a couple reasons. i had a lot of subscribers in the stock. some paid 60%. that is the guy it began tick gain, you feel about that. a lot of these shorts out there, they have a run of this whole thing. it really is a shame.

shorting does play a role with the markets. they get the giant platforms, whether media, whatever, they say listen, this company is not doing well. and no matter what the company is doing that stock is going to get hammered. depending who the name is, einhorn was the run who is really beating this thing up, pounding it and pounding it and you know what, the stock is up huge. over 40% short position. we'll see how much today's move is a short squeeze. ashley: 36.38 thereabouts. is there more upside. >> i'm suggesting people take profits. the shorts never give up. i know shorts who shorted stocks at 25 and 2. stay short. tracy: what did einhorn get wrong though? >> just everything. i think his assumptions about competition, maybe they will prove out over time but, you know, just the idea all of a sudden starbucks will come up with a machine that snatches market share overnight, that hasn't materialized. >> tell you from a girl who

does thissevery morning. expensive machine. i had to change everything in the house to convert to the starbucks stuff. it is a lot. it will not happen overnight. >> but the stock fell apart overnight. it was a $70 stock in february. i'm happy about that. i think it is absolutely huge. the stock in my mind could go up higher. i know the shorts will relaunch an attack on this thing. ashley: take profits. >> you get this kind of mmve. i'm happy for viewers who might have picked up the stock at that time. watching chipolte. that is another one he doesn't like. i may counterattack him again. tracy: charles, give us a list of all einhorn stocks. ashley: counter einhorn. >> i know how to make friends an influence people. ashley: all right. a little after quarter past the hour. as we do every 15 minutes let's check the markets. the dow still up in positive territory. go to nicole at the nyse. another day, we've been talking about it, special dividend. >> that's right. tell chars, dave einhorn is on phone for him. look at costco. it has been a top performer on the s&p 500.

look at this stellar performance from this retailer, wholesale retailer. it has joined, there are over 100 companies now that have accelerated dividends, special dividends, all of this to avoid the fiscal cliff, right? so ideally what we're hearing, lawmakers don't figure it out, taxes will go up on dividend payments. so what the companies are doing, they're paying special dividends. in this case costco is doing it. it will cost them $3 billion. $7 a share for this special dividend. they join weight watchers and wal-mart and ethan allen and dillard's and las vegas sands trying to give shareholders value. ashley: they are indeed. nicole, thanks so much. we'll be back with you in 15 minutes. tracy: kirkland almonds are my favorite. a little fyi there. costco insider tidbit. ashley: there you go. tracy: coming up new optimism on the cliff. the president says we can get a deal befooe christmas. i would love to know what he has in his morning coffee but both sides are saying they will make it work. ashley: hopefully send that

wish to santa. first look how the dollar is moving right now against some of these foreign currencies. well, euro, down against the dollar as is the pound. much range-bound for some time. guess what, canadian dollar, the looney going looney up against the dolly. the dollar. we'll be righttback. [ male announcer ] you are a business pro.

governor of getting it done. you know how to dance... with a deadline.

and u...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in e aisle... ango. you can even take a full-size or ove, anand still pay the mid-size price. this is awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is, business pro. yes, it is. go national. go like a pro.

and waiting in le. i don't have to leave my desk and get up and go to the post office anymore. [ male announcer ] with stamps.com, you can print real u.s. postage for all your letters and packages. it gives you the exact amount of postage you need the instant you need it. can you print only stamps? no. first class. priority mail. certified. international. and the mailman picks it up. i don't leave the shop anymore. postage and a digital scale.$g

go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the post office again. >> at 21 minutes past the hour i'm patti ann browne with your fox news minute. more than 100,000 people flooding the streets of downtown cairo in a new round of violent demonstrations protesting egyptian president mohammed morsi's power grab. police firing tear gas at rock hurling demonstrators near tahrir square as one of egypt's highest courts refuses to work in protest of morsi's decree. win car bomb blasts reported in syria claiming 34 lives in a damascus suburb in an area known to be loyal to president assad. the two parked cars detonated after people were going to work, the second explosion five minutes later apparently designed for those helping to help those

hurt by the first bomb. iran's naval commander will soon hold drills and send a fleet of warships to the mediterranean and the atlantic. those are the headlines. back to ashley. ashley: fox's patti ann browne, thank you so much for that. appreciate it. >> thank you. tracy: it is a battle of the teen retailers today as some of the major brand report earnings. which companies should you add to your portfolio heading into the christmas season, those fickle teenagers? sandra smith following big movers today. sandy, i don't know how you keep track of them. >> they might be fickle but they're spending some dough out there. earnings coming from the teen retailers. they're opening their wallets and spending. aeropostale, for example, this is one of the cheaper, less expensive of teen retailers, far more less expensive than for example, abercrombie & fitch. they're giving investors lots of reasons to buy today. the stock is soaring up more than 5%, up near the highs of the session. a stock can certainly use a

boost, year-to-date chart. they're heading into what they call a strong holiday season. casual clothes, lingerie selling well at arrow postell. they have the right price point. analysts love it. overweight rating. average price target. 25 bucks. $14 a share. the other one we're looking at is guess. reporting after the bell tonight. we saw anna nicole smith's daughter is in the big ad campaign there. this is another retailer that has been struggling over the past year. could use a little help. it is up 2% today. earnings after the bell. there is some optimism here. keep in mind though while some others might be a buy, piper jaffray warning on owning guess heading into their earnings, saying that they have had recent management changes. they any in the near term that will cause a lot of uncertainty with the stock. by the way, tracy and ashley, they have missed on their earnings two out of the last four reports. they have had disappointments. keep that in mind after the

bell tonight. tracy: can i tell you i walked into guess the other day, yeah, the adult stores are down there. ashley: did they call you ma'am? ma'am, could you go --. tracy: senior holiday is that way. ashley: that made your day. sandra, thank you very much. now back to --. tracy: i swear. 14-year-old kid. i wanted to kill her. ashley: there you go. back to the fiscal cliff. don't do that. as we reported earlier treasury secretary tim geithner on his white steed coming to the rescue, probably not. he will meet with congressional leaders on capitol hill tomorrow to try to hammer out a deal. gerri willis is here to talk about it. that is quite an image, isn't it? geithner on a white --. tracy: geithner on a horse. ashley: or both. >> geithner buying women's clothing on a white horse. ashley: you're getting into dangerous territory right there. tracy: do you buy this christmas present deal? >> no.

well, i'm just saying, i actually want to deliver what i thought was some actionable advice today. ashley: great. >> i think the mainstream media and personal finance people all over the country, i have done a lot of that myself, are telling people not to worry. that this isn't a big deal. that it will not matter. guess what, it's not true, folks. it will matter and it will matter a lot. even if you don't invest, even if you don't have a 401(k) there is somebody who might hire you who might give you a better wage that does and you might care about what they think. couple of things i want to say. first of all, get the bonus in early if you can. if you have bonus payments, paycheck outstanding, salary coming in the front door, get it before december 31st. pay the lower tax rate. there is no problem with that. hold off selling your losers. you will need that next year. if you've got big losers in the market, you will need to match that up with income next year. so just hold onto those. mind your deductions. we still don't have amt fix,

folks. it is not out there. amt is often a deductions how many deductions you take. consider gifting now because taxes on gifting, of course estate tax are going through the roof. ashley: yeah. >> so, don't listen to all these personal finance people you're seeing on the web. take action. ashley: cbo also said, if we go over the fiscal cliff, the chance of the u.s. economy going back into recession is very high indeed. >> will rogers. ashley: people who hire, everybody associated with the economy. >> right. and i just don't see, all i see is posturing right now. i don't see a lot of action. the fact that the president himself isn't sitting down with congress, why is that? i don't get it. why isn't geithner, all due respect to the treasury secretary. at the end of the day the man who could do the deal is the president himself. ashley: i imagine you will talk a lot about this tonight on the show? >> indeed we will. we'll talk about that we'll talk about the auto show in

l.a. which is a ton of fun with a friend of the show's from consumer reports. ashley: gerri willis, don't miss "the willis report" at 6:00 and 8:00, 6:00 and 9:00. >> and 11, 12. tracy: watch it anytime you want. ashley: gave gerri another show. can fist car give more luxury with the karma? lover the name. jeff flock talking exclusively with the ceo at the l.a. auto show next. tracy: i would love to drive around with good karma. look at s&p 500 winners. costco sup, yeah. they gave a special dividend. up 5.7%. jcpenney don't see that very often. dow up 60. we'll be right back. ♪

[ engine revs ] ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] the mercedes-benz winter event is back,

no matter which list you're on. [ santa ] ho, ho, ho, ho! [ male announcer ] lease a 2013 ml350 for $599 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. ♪ [ male announcer ] it startedong ago. the joy of giving something everything you've got. it takes passion. and it's not letting up anytime soon. if you're eligible for medicare, you might know it only covers about 80% of yr part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. call now and find out about an aarp medica supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, they help pay some of the difference. and could save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital

that accepts medicare patients. plus, there are networks, and you never need a referral to see a specialist. so don't wait. call now to request a free decision guide to help you understand medicare. and which aarp medicare supplement plan might work best for you. there's a range to choose from, depending on your needs and your budget. and they all travel with you -- anywhere in thcountry. best of all, you'll be joining the millions who have already enrolled in the only mecare supplement insurance ans endorsed by aarp, an organization serving the needof people 50 and over for genetions. ♪ remember, all medicare supplement insurance plans help cover some of what medicare doesn't pay. and could save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. you'll be able to choose any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. and never need referrals. so call now to reqst a free decision guide and learn more. after all, when you're going the distance,

it's nice to have the experience and commitment to go along with you. keep dreaming. keep doing. go long. ashley: it is 30 past the hour. let's get a check on the market as we do every 15 minutes. nicole: i am with mr. willis. we got those headlights from peter barnes right of the top of the show. i quickly noted that was fed speak at its best. >> absolutely. it is amazing how they can speak out of both sides of the mouth. it was good, it was bad, it was good, it is bad. there is nothing that we know of that can measure it. nicole: what do you make of the

market? >> i think it is doing exactly what i thought it would do. i will not pat myself on the back too much. we did get, you know, we watched the fiscal cliff fight on television and the media. here we are, everyone said the right thing for the algorithms to kick in. that is where we are. nicole: geithner will be meeting with boehner to talk about the fiscal cliff tomorrow. it is so interesting as we get the headlines from washington. what do you think we may hear out of this tomorrow? >> well, i guess, now it is the democratics turned to say something negative. i am just so sick and tired of it. get down to business. you are embarrassing us to the world. nicole: tell us what you really think. [ laughter ] thank you. it really is true.

there is a sense of frustration. whether you are a business owner, trader, investor, people are left hanging. back to you. ashley: i think he speaks for a lot of people right now for their opinion of washington, d.c. oil closing down at, well, down $0.69. it is the third straight loss. tracy: all right. the los angeles auto show getting underway with dozens of cars making their debut. one automaker will not be showing something new. trying to prove they can overcome recent struggles. jeff flock is at the auto show with a book at the companies only model called the karma. jeff: first, i will tell you,

this is a mercedes. their electric. they are trying to take pictures of it right now. there is plenty of electrics in l.a.. a lot of electrics, but nobody does only electrics like fisker. i am so pleased to be joined by the ceo of fisker, tony. first of all, what possessed you to take this job. >> first of all, i root for the underdog. i mean, you have to give this a go. jeff: you did not engineer it yourself. >> i believe this is the technology of the future. jeff: in terms of karma, you

have had funky, here lately. i saw a picture of the ones that got burned in sandy. >> we move forward. we moved onward. we have an exciting car here. jeff: they are injured, right? jeff: then you can make more cars. >> it has a 400-horsepower system, as well. the car will be half the price. jeff: you have had some government help. tell our viewers where you stand in terms of hiring.

we talked to the governor the other day. >> we had taken the original loan money from the government and we felt the karma. now we are in our next stage of funding. we have engineers close to the delaware plan. we are not too far away from making further announcements on when we will start this project. stay tuned. so, stay tuned. again.tony, great to see you the father of the volt right here moving onto fisker. these guys only do electrics. >> plug-in. jeff: plug in is the future. tracy: so old school. jeff flock, thank you very much. medical dollars, how the new healthcare law should change the way you actually plan for your medical future starting right

now. ashley: first, take a look at the ten and 30 year treasuries. we will be right back. ♪

>> i am lori rothman with their fox business brief. stocks continued their upward trend today. ceo responds to reports that the daily deal site was looking for a new boss. mason did acknowledge there have been bumps in the road, but he remains the right person for the job. groupon stock is down. one of the biggest regulations coming out of sac conference call, the commission is considering filing charges over

insider trade violations. last week they arrested matthew mark, for his involvement. that is your latest look at business from the fox business network. giving you the power to prosper. ♪ music is a universal language. but when i was in an accident... i was worried the health care system spoke a language all its own th unitedhealthcare, i got help that fit my life. information on my phone. connection to doctors who get where i'm from.

and tools to estimate what my care may cost. so i never missed a beat. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for more than 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. tracy: the supreme court may get another chance to rule on president obama's healthcare law. our next guest says it will continue to be confusing, if it isn't already. some ideas on how the government can help streamline the process. more on the future of our helpline service.

>> what will we be on top of it is the system polices itself to a degree to add to their quality. the cost comes out. i think we will just remain confused for the next few years. tracy: those of us that are privately insured will remain

confused. i was at my ob's office the other day and he said i have no idea. what are we supposed to do? what is the solution here? >> if i had the solution, i would certainly share it. there are a lot of things that would make it easier. medicare was passed, if you speak to people, the first ten years of medicare were a challenge as they figure out the economic realities behind it. if you are taking care of your parents, just take care of your parents, put a plan in place now. the net result of the affordable care act is you and myself as consumers are more responsible. tracy: one of the problems with the whole system is the administrative part of it. it is so darn confusing. you help people get that thought in mind. if only the government could do

that as well. >> i am not sure if that is the role of government. i do not think there is anyone else in the system except for the consumer at the end of the day you will have to own up for the responsibility to make sure they are coordinated with the system. i do not think the system will help take care of you. that is not the system. tracy: many of us will pay way more attention. >> i think that is right. other than that, it made me feel really, really good about myself. >> wish i could have provided you more. [ laughter ] tracy: we are not alone. we all feel the same way. ashley: confused. we are now. it looks like the front runner

may get the cnn job as well. dennis neill joins us with that story now. dennis: it will be jeffrey zucker, the former chief. zucker is a formidable figure. one of the most accomplished tv executives ever. zucker, now age 47, is unstoppable. he rose through ten jobs in 25 years at nbc. he survived two bouts of colon cancer. he also provided over a bad ratings file. he tried moving leno to 10:00 o'clock. zucker has been producing katie couric's daytime talkshow which is only so-so. he may be a fine pick for cnn which some viewers say is dull all too often.

it runs third two fox new and msnbc. cnn is headed in the wrong direction. it should be strong in election year. 44% for the total day. twenty-five-54, down 47%. primetime showing some nice progress there. cnn's problem is it plays things to down the middle. msnbc has staked out it is not exactly a liberal fan. it is viewed elsewhere as a righty. zucker is a registered independent and he has never given, as far as we can tell, contributions to politics of any ashley: interesting background on that, dennis kneale. thank you so much. tracy: it is quarter till. time for stocks as we do every 15 minutes. the cult that back floor of the

new york stock exchange. my capital getting a boost again. nicole: geico is right around the corner. a question of who will actually get knight capital. we have charles gasparino doing a great job. geico proposing a $1.4 billion deal. then you have virgin financial. maybe buying knight capital for 1.1 billion. this is an ongoing story. some of the other guys on wall street have stepped in, including geico. my capital with all this chatter

about who may step in and take over. back to you. tracy: nicole, we will see you at the top of the hour. ashley: today's weaker than expected rate on home sales raised questions on whether the housing really was making a comeback. coldwelllbanker ceo shares his take in this next. tracy: let's take a look at some of today's winners and losers on the nasdaq as we head out to break. ♪

tracy: cosco hoping for the best, but expecting the worst as it becomes the latest company to issue a special dividend. our very own robert greg in the newsroom. >> take a look at it. seven dollars a share for a one-time payout for cosco shareholders. $3 billion they will pay. clearly, even though most supporters of the president not to keen for shareholders or for themselves, actually, to pay higher taxes. his predecessor founder was in outspoken business supporter of the election and look at the

they have this one-time dividend versus next year. they would save a lot of money under the current tax rates versus next year. back to you. tracy: tax planning at its best, robert. ashley: sales of new homes fell 5.3% last month. so, what does all of this say about the housing recovery. joining me now budge huskey, co all of coldwell banker. congratulations on that. it seems to me that most of the data that is cominn out on housing: despite the numbers today, the recovery is on. are you confident that we are on the right track? >> i think there is reason to be. down only slightly from the prior month.

i think that is to be expected. the most important figures are the ones we are seeing year over year on the same month. we are up 17% over the same period last year. we have now had 15 straight months of consecutive growth in home sales year over year. we have probably had, more importantly, though, eight months of consistent growth. that is an important side of an economic recovery. ashley: those home prices went a long way down. we have more fires than homes right now. that is good, i would imagine. >> we always know and every type of housing cycle, what you see is units returned first, housing prices returned second. you indicated inventory.

that is something that weeare watching very closely. obviously, the prices have increased most prominently in those markets where inventory has been reduced significantly. there is greater demand than there are actually homes available for sale right now. ashley: we had a guest yesterday that had a much different outlook. basically, because it is hard to get credit. banks are just very weary to make a loan. scores of 720 are being turned down. >> other than inventory, i say credit remains a challenge. there will be almost 5 million homes sold in the united states this year. there is financing available,

especially for those who can qualify, can state their income, document their assets. mortgage financing is available. we are looking forward to some of the key decisions being made in relation to the dodd-frank bill. that will ultimately determine the availability of credit in the mortgage industry going forward. ashley: we will be following that. budge huskey, thank you for being here. >> thank you. tracy: we have to talk about cars again. liz claman will take us through the last hour of trading. the l.a. auto show. i hope they talk about the month and. you will hear about it from the chief operating officer mark fields. "countdown to the closing bell" is next. do not go anywhere. ♪

♪ [ male announcer ] this is karen anjeremiah. they don't know it yet, but they' gonna fall in love, get married, have a couple of kids, [ children laughing ] move to the country, and live a long, happy life together where they almost never fight about money. [ dog barks ] because right afterthey ge, they'll find some retirent people who are paid on salary, not commission. they'll get straightforwarduidance and be able to focus on other things, like each other, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from tdmeritrade.